Sometimes Apple need your Mac to knowexactlywhat prison term it is . Most people entrust their Macs set to the nonremittal context in which the time is set via a meshing waiter that maintain it up to date down to the second . But you may have turned that feature off , reset the clock manually to check something or foreclose a date - based passing , or have a hardware problem that ’s causing a bug . ( Some Macs let in long - last electric battery cellsdesigned to keep the clock tickingand save other setting . )

If your Mac does n’t know the proper time , you may have trouble with your Apple ID and iCloud syncing , be unable to enter to the App Store or download updates , have your Mac say it ca n’t connect to server when inmacOS Recovery , or have the process fail for recover a lost FileVault key when you ’ve allowed it to be store in your iCloud account statement .

If your Mac is up and running , use the Date & Time preference pane to jibe the prison term . you could enable robotic date / time setting if it ’s off , or if it ’s on and incorrect , disable it and set the clock manually . ( If you disconnect your desktop Mac and plug it back in and the clock is faulty , you almost certainly need to replace its interior configurations battery . )

mac911 time date macos set

With macOS running , tweak the sentence setting in the Date & Time preference pane .

When restoring your Mac or trying to access your FileVault recuperation key with your Apple ID , thing can be trickier .

The end is to bring up Terminal , where you type in one of the take after two commands . Terminal is an option in macOS Recovery in the Utilities fare .

If you ca n’t get the recovery mood to appear at all or take up Terminal , create a bootable installer with a USB quarter round drive or other external drive . ( We have instructions on how to make a bootable installer forBig SurandCatalina . )   boot from that drive , you should be able-bodied to access Terminal by choosing its Recovery partition — this may demand hold down Option at inauguration to pick an single disk that appears .

With a live Internet link , in the Terminal try :

ntpdate -u time.apple.com

This adjoin Apple ’s time waiter directly and sets the clock . If you ca n’t establish an Internet connection or that does n’t influence , try using thedatecommand , which is come by the month , day , 60 minutes , min , and year ( last two digits ) , with zeroes pad individual - digit entries . For case , March 12 , 2020 at 9 : 30 a.m. looks like this

date 031209302020

In some cases , you may involve to re-start before the date and time fix are recognise and permit you to move .

If you ca n’t reach the Terminal app , you need to find an external private road for your Mac with macOS put in ( or on which you could install macOS from another Mac ) , and you could then start up from it . you may utilize the preference pane to arrange the appointment and time or utilize Terminal once reboot into macOS .

Ask Mac 911

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